| 词组 | degree |
| 释义 | degree Various phrases based on to a degree receive some mention in a few usage books. Bernstein 1965 begins by observing that to a degree once had the meaning "to the last degree" or "to a remarkable extent" but that it now means "in moderate measure" or "in a small way." Fowler 1926 remarked on the first of these uses, calling it illogical but established and tracing it back to 18th-century literary sources. This older use seems fairly unlikely to appear in current American English, but its occurrences in older, more literary, and usually British English are not difficult to recognize, most of the time: • She was indeed extraordinarily clever ... ; but in some things she must have been stupid to a degree —Ira Victor Morris, Covering Two Years, 1933 The newer sense, the common one now in American English, was condemned by Follett 1966, but is recognized by Bernstein and dictionaries (as Webster's Ninth New Collegiate). It emphasizes limitation. It can usually be told from the older use: • To a degree this attitude is held by many in the Peace Now movement —David K. Shipler, TV. Y. Times Mag., 6 Apr. 1980 Sometimes, though, the context is such that you cannot be sure which meaning was intended. This example is probably of the newer meaning, but the older could be understood in its place: • ... the Princeton attitude toward passes thrown by other teams is still innocent to a degree —New Yorker, 6 Oct. 1951 In these quantified times, many American writers express the older sense with a different phrase, to the nth degree: • The four players are adjusted to the nth degree, ... and not a wisp of sound is out of place —Theodore Strongin, TV. Y. Times, 19 Nov. 1967 • ... they were honest to the nth degree —John K. Fairbank, Harvard Today, Autumn 1968 Bernstein objects to phrases of the form to an x degree, in which x represents some adjective, as wasteful of space. In his very simple examples, he is of course right, but such clear-cut stuff is not typical of real use. In actual use these phrases serve as periphrastic adverbs and seem to be employed chiefly where a seemingly equivalent single word might be ambiguous or misleading. Here are a few typical examples: • ... they will be dealing to a large degree with government bodies —Forbes, 1 May 1967 • To a startling degree, the reverse seems to be true — Michael Lerner, Change, September 1971 • ... authoritarian systems have the advantage of being able to force saving, to a considerable degree, while democratic systems must rely on voluntary self-denial —John Fischer, Harper's, March 1971 • Speakers pointed out that universities are now dependent to an extraordinary degree ... upon Defense Department funds for "basic" research — Doris Grumbach, Commonweal, 30 Jan. 1970 • The staff, however, soon became bogged down in bureaucratic red tape and, to a certain degree, in its own idealism —Peter Linkow, Change, January-February 1971 |
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